Here’s an interesting note. Despite the fact that almost everyone always talks about Boxing day as being the public holiday directly following Christmas, officially its name has been Day of Goodwill since 1980 already!
Anyway, moving right along, I did in fact enjoy a pretty awesome Day of Goodwill 2011, despite the fact that wifey was working. It kicked off in the morning, as I got on with the packing while Jessie finished her breakfast routine, before the two of us shot through to Bellville, with the little cupcake enjoying her morning snooze in the comfort of her baby seat. In Bellville I met up with my folks at the Bellville Methodist Church, where the hall was subsequently unlocked and the people streamed in for a morning of badminton in what can only be described as sweltering sauna conditions! It was very much a Montagu and Lotter clan event, and in total there were about six active players on the morning, which meant plenty of game time for the full 2 hour period that we played.
With Granny and plenty of others there to keep Jessica entertained, daddy got to thoroughly enjoy himself knocking the shuttlecock around the court, something he hasn’t done in what feels like years! (You should have seen the amount of dust I had to blow off my racquet cover when I finally found it at the back of the storage cupboard!)
Eventually it was time to head home to start the afternoon routine with Jess, and so Mom and I headed off to their pad while Dad went out to scrounge up some food for lunch. With Jessie seen to and ready for her nap, Mom, Dad and I sat down and enjoyed a light lunch together outside on what really was a beautiful Summer’s day.
Now Dad and I had already seen fit to get rid of all the sweat from the morning’s play by taking a quick dip in the pool before lunch, but because this had been my big plan for the day, there was definitely no way I wasn’t going back in – all I needed was Jessica to wake up, so that I could plonk her into her swimming gear and then lather her up with some sunblock!
It took a little while to get my pink munchkin used to the water temperature (she normally swims in a heated pool), but once she was ready, I got into the pool and Dad passed her to me, marking the very first time little Jessie has been in Grandpa and Gran’s pool! :)
I’m not sure how long we played in the water for, but it felt like absolute ages, as Grandpa joined in on the fun and games, after passing along the camera to Granny who happily snapped photos from a safe and dry distance!
Ryan eventually stopped by as well, though not in time to join us in the water, but definitely in time for the big presents reveal, as we (and it was probably more Mom than anyone else!) happily worked through opening up Jessie’s huge stash of presents she had received from everyone for Christmas for her!
With the presents exchanged and snack time out of the way, it was time to bundle Jess back into the car and head off home to Gordon’s Bay, with her again enjoying a nice long snooze in the baby seat while daddy drove the boring trip all on his lonesome! Back home we met up with Chantelle who had been on a cleaning drive, and after the whole bed time routine for Jess, we quickly whipped up some chicken burgers for supper, before falling back on the sofa and enjoying the thoroughly delightful Tangled which I had rented from Mr. Video a little bit earlier!
So yup, definitely a good Day of Goodwill then! :)
